


Give Me a Sign

by Tobiyond



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-06
Updated: 2016-09-06
Packaged: 2018-08-13 07:45:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7968343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tobiyond/pseuds/Tobiyond
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Junkers don't need words to speak.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Give Me a Sign

Junkrat loved to talk.

Anyone who spent more than a moment with the excitable Australian knew this. He would mutter and giggle to himself if no one was interested in conversation or spend the better part of an hour discussing whatever he deemed important should anyone make eye contact. Some of the younger members, Lucio mostly, found this endearing. A real show of passion. Most just avoided looking in the Junker’s direction for too long for fear of catching his attention.

Roadhog was quiet.

Well, not really quiet. The man could often be heard laughing or grunting in response to something someone else said, but it was rare to get actual words out of him. When he started attempting to befriend Junkrat, Lucio had done everything he could think of to try getting words out of the big man. No such luck so far. He figured that was okay, though. He had his hands full keeping up with the quick pace that conversations with the skinnier man went through.

One moment they’d be chatting about the new chemical compound that made his bombs have smaller, but more potent explosions. The it would switch over to Lucio’s Sonic tech and how that could be used as propulsion for a new type of grenade launcher, something he’d been shot down on three times already. Junkrat was adamant about keeping his eyes on Lucio’s face when they spoke, judging his reactions as far as the smaller man could tell. There was never a dull moment and the DJ had come to enjoy their long talks. So, he couldn’t help his surprise the first time he saw Junkrat speechless. 

It hadn’t been a long mission. Get in. Set a few charges. Get out. He had been sent to accompany the Junkers mainly due to his speed and their comfort with him. Mercy had already complained once that it was difficult to heal people who didn’t want to be near her and Lucio didn’t want to put either group through that if he could help it. Once they arrived, Roadhog’s silent request, a heavy hand on the healer’s shoulder, kept him back while Junkrat ran up ahead to start laying down his charges. The echo of his giggles in the building carried across the still air. The sound was just distracting enough that Lucio didn’t notice the Talon agents touching down around them until Roadhog was shoving him behind his back. 

What followed could hardly be called a firefight. Between the scrap gun and well-timed hook, the agents were outskilled and went down without much effort. Lucio tried to keep count, making sure each one of them was dealt with. 6. . .7 . . .and 8. He let out a heavy sigh as the last one went down to the hook. No matter what any of the others members tried to say about the large Junker, he was efficient and that deep laughter was a lot more soothing than the DJ thought it should be.

Then it stopped. Roadhog turned away from the mess of bodies on the ground and faced towards their target instead. The giggling had stopped, but nothing was taking it’s place. Lucio frowned. He’d never heard Junkrat completely silent, especially when there was a fight taking place just outside of where he was being encouraged to use his explosives. What if one of the agents had gotten past them? What if they’d touched down behind the building and gone directly inside. What if Junkrat wasn’t paying attention? The large Junker seemed to have the same thought as they both set forward, wanting to put eyes on the reason for the sudden quiet. Down the plain and sterile hallways, the sound of his skates and Roadhog’s breathing remained the only noise. Wires lining the walls were easy enough to follow, finally leading them to the main room they’d come to deal with. 

It was an armory of sorts, dealing mainly in melee and close combat weaponry, whose owners were striking a deal with Talon. Getting access to such a large supply would’ve made them an even more dangerous foe, which was why Junkrat was currently on his knees in front of the door wiring up one of his largest bombs. Or, he was supposed to be anyway. Instead, his hands were in his hair, fingers clenching and unclenching as he stared at the bundle of wires. Another agent lay dead on the floor, most of the face missing almost as if they’d had a grenade shoved down their throat. Lucio decided not to dwell on that thought. 

Roadhog was already at his boss’s side, kneeling down so he was closer to eye level. His large hand touched Junkrat’s shoulder, gripping it tightly in preparation for the sudden startled jump the other made. From where he stood, Lucio could see that his eyes were wide and red with lines of soot missing from where he’d been. . . . crying? Concern overtook him and he slowly slid forward, trying to keep the sound of his skates to a minimum. He didn’t know what was wrong, but he wanted to help. Hog started to shake his head at the movement, only to be stopped by Junkrat’s flesh hand on the side of his mask. The mechanical one was moving erratically, making various motions Lucio didn’t recognize, but the two of them obviously did. 

The sound of Roadhog’s sigh was unmistakable. He looked up towards the idling medic again before reaching behind his head to undo the clasp on his mask. Unsure how to react, Lucio looked away. He’d never seen the large Junker’s face before and whatever reason he was removing it now had to do with Junkrat, not him. Still. . .a few minutes of silence passed and he couldn’t help his curiosity. Neither man even acknowledged him as he turned around. 

Still kneeling on the floor, Rat was moving his hands quickly, teeth worrying his bottom lip as he did so. Hog was watching his motions carefully as his own hands moved, mouth forming words without sound. Lucio wasn’t the best at reading lips, but he could make out a few choice bits. ‘Yellow wire’, ‘don’t worry’, ‘stop’. Hog’s brow furrowed at the last word, hand moving to rest on the smaller Junker’s cheek. There was a moment of direct eye contact, a level of communication Lucio knew he couldn’t begin to understand, then Junkrat was back in the bundle of wires. His hands moved just as quickly as they had before, pulling pieces and cutting what needed to be cut. Within a minute he was on his feet and grinning at the small man behind him as if nothing had happened. 

Lucio started to look at Hog for an explanation, but the large man already had his mask back on and was pushing past him to leave the room. Rat’s arm sheepishly linked with the healer’s, tugging on him so they could start back towards the designated retrieval point. He was still being unusually quiet, but it was more calm and controlled now. Lucio quietly asked if they could talk about this later and received a hesitant nod. He didn’t want to push. He just wanted to understand.

It was almost a week before they had a chance to talk. Between the debriefing taking forever and the amount of work Lucio was dealing with around the base, he couldn’t find a good span of time to just sit down with the Junkers, which is what he needed. This wasn’t something he wanted to try squeezing into an hour or two. Thankfully, Mercy was selected to go out on the newest mission with mostly senior members of the organization, so Lucio had an entire night without any responsibilities. Perfect.

Despite spending hours in the Junkers’ room before, he was nervous as he raised a hand and knocked. He felt like there was tension between them now, something he wanted to alleviate as soon as possible. They were his friends. Their trust meant a lot and right now he wasn’t sure he had that. As Junkrat answered the door, eyes brightening at the sight of him and excited words spilling out without a filter, the worry started to ebb. He was getting all worked up over nothing. They still liked him, still trusted him. Or, at least one of them did. 

When he was pulled into their room, the first thing Lucio noticed was Roadhog reclining in their bed without his mask on. It was in his hand, but Junkrat had called back who was at the door and it seemed he didn’t feel the need to put it back on. After all, the healer had already seen his face one time. A shy hand was raised in greeting and Hog nodded at it before going back to his book. At least that was normal. Lucio allowed himself a soft sigh of relief and turned his attention back to Junkrat. The taller man was flopped down in the room’s torn up sofa, something they’d saved from being thrown out months ago, and was patting the spot next to him. As soon as Lucio sat down, Junkrat launched into an explanation. 

Shut down. That’s what they called it. If he got too stressed out, his mouth forgot how to make words properly. He knew what he wanted to say, he just couldn’t make himself say it. Not out loud anyway. So, he talked with his hands. Lucio mentally berated himself for not recognizing signing when he saw it. The skill wasn’t something he could see either of the Junkers needing, so it hadn’t even occurred to him that Junkrat’s hand gestures had any actual meaning. When he voiced this in an attempt to apologize, the blonde laughed and wrapped his partially metal arm around Lucio’s shoulders.

Oh. Everything seemed to click together now. The focus on his face whenever the two of them were talking. His frequent fluctuations between whispering and shouting. The constant critique of ‘needs more bass’ for all of his new songs. Junkrat telling him that he couldn’t hear out of one ear and the other was mostly muffled just completed the puzzle. The DJ felt like a fool. He’d gotten so close to them, considered himself their friend, and yet he hadn’t managed to figure that out by now?

No. That was the wrong way to see this. Instead, he turned to Junkrat and smiled as sincerely as he could. He’d been trusted with this information, something that he was quickly told was sort of kind of a secret. Not like he was hiding it, but he didn’t want the other’s pity. Lucio could understand that and swore to keep it between them. He heard Roadhog give an approving grunt as he let his book drop onto the nightstand, grabbing Rat’s attention. A moment of those silent words between them, something spoken with only their eyes and the man beside Lucio was pressing his skinny frame up against him. A sleepover. Junkrat wanted him to sleep in their room. In their bed. While the DJ quickly mulled it over, Rat hopped off the sofa and got to work removing his arm and leg, something Lucio knew he only did to sleep.

The bed did look pretty comfortable. He felt closer to the two Junkers than ever and, well, he could think of worse places to sleep then curled up with Junkrat and Roadhog. A barrage of new giggles hit the air as Lucio stood up and crossed the room, taking a seat next to their source. He didn’t even have to accept the proposal. His fingers just started working on the attachment point for his own prosthetics and Rat was already asking if he cared what they slept in. He didn’t. He did, however, expect to be sleeping on the edge of the bed. So it caught him off guard when a large arm reached across the mattress and wrapped around his waist, pulling him into the middle. The skinnier man quickly settled on his other side, arms wrapping around him just below Roadhog’s and face nuzzling against his hair. 

If this was what it meant to be trusted by the Junkers, Lucio knew he’d made the right choice.

**Author's Note:**

> \- - tobiyond.tumblr.com - -


End file.
